Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) comes out of retirement to try and win enough money to send his daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler) to a prestigious ballet school.

A lot has happened to Happy since we saw him twenty-nine years ago in the original Happy Gilmore movie. Success on the golf course, five children, the tragic death of his wife Virginia (Julie Bowen), retirement and alcoholism. But when a family member needs money he picks up his clubs again in an effort to win the money that will save the day. This time his main adversary is a billionaire named Frank Manatee (Sandler’s co-director Benny Safdie from Uncut Gems) who thinks golf is too boring and is creating a rival tour.

I am unhappy to report that this legacy sequel is a dire return for one of Sandler’s best comedy film characters. It is ultimately a series of sketches featuring an absolutely insane amount of cameos that re-treads the original film’s plot and has outstayed its welcome before it really gets going. Near the start of the film we see Steve Buscemi urinating into a mailbox and this is the litmus test for whether or not you will enjoy the movie ultimately as it is just a series of crude jokes strung together.

It runs twenty-two minutes longer than the original film but I was begging it to stop a lot sooner. The final half of the film that sees the traditional golf tour play off against the new golf tour is so horrifically bad that I just found myself wondering how anyone thought it was a good idea. Although I guess given the PGA rivalry with LIV this is at least a topical subject in the world of golf.

There will be people who love Sandler’s comedy and will wholeheartedly enjoy the film. But I have always found the man an enigma. Hugely gifted comedically and dramatically he is more often than not found to be having great fun with his friends making films but not necessarily carving out anything that resembles an actual film. If you want to spend your time counting cameos then this is for you – Golf stars both new and old, actors from the original film, golfing pundits and then incredibly bizarre things like having Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny play his caddie. If you need to be constantly reminded about what happened in the original film then this is for you because there is an interminable number of clips to remind you what the story was and who characters are.

If I am trying to be optimistic about this one I would say it is “hit and miss” in regards to its comedy sketches. But honestly, unless you are a real fan of Sandler and famous golfers being terrible actors this is not for you.